Ferrari to use new fuel at Barcelona
Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will contest the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix with a new blend of Shell fuel. The new Shell V-Power blend is the latest to make it to the race track since the opening round of the 2012 F1 season in Australia.
Using the new Shell V-Power fuel, the 056 Ferrari engine develops greater performance and maintains the fuel consumption characteristics of the previous blend.
Cara Tredget, Shell Technology Manager: "Despite the freeze on engine regulations in F1 and F1 fuel regulations being the most strictly governed in motor racing, together with Ferrari, we have still been able to find a power gain with this new blend of fuel. In a world where thousandths of a second can make a difference, this is a significant step change in the fuel and one we are most proud of. Of equal importance to us is that we have been able to maintain the fuel-efficiency of the previous blend, thus offering the extra power at no cost to efficiency.
"Subtle alterations to the blend can see a major performance change in a car as powerful and responsive as the F2012 but that does not detract from the similarity to the standard Shell V-Power available on the road for the everyday motorist."
"The new Shell V-Power blend represents a significant step forward in the power output from an engine which has fundamentally remained unchanged for four years now. With only one tank of fuel available to the driver for each race, this performance gain is a substantial benefit over the course of a race.
Luca Marmorini, Scuderia Ferrari Head of Engines and Electronics: "The engine is one of the most challenging and technically demanding elements of a modern Formula One car. The freeze in engine design, combined with the longer season and subsequent increased mileage on each unit means we look more and more to partners such as Shell to help us find performance gains."
The blend, developed at Shell s research base in Chester (UK), is the latest in the on-going fuel and lubricant development progress for Ferrari that has its roots in the 1930s.
In the course of a season, Shell scientists experiment with a variety of blends of fuels for Ferrari, each with an eye to increasing the fuel efficiency, power output or ideally, both.
Having run the experimental blends in computer simulations, Shell will submit around 20 new blends of fuel to Ferrari per year. The fuels are then tested in Ferrari Formula One engine test benches, with the more successful candidates making it through to longer bench runs. After each run, Shell engineers analyse the data together with Ferrari engineers. Meanwhile, a batch of fuel is simultaneously sent to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) labs for approval. Once approved by both the FIA and Ferrari, it may be used at an F1 race meeting.
At each race, the fuel will be continually monitored against this FIA sample to ensure that it remains in peak condition and that should any contamination enter the system, it is detected and removed. This is done in the mobile trackside laboratory that Shell has at every race along with a team of Shell analysts who are on hand to monitor the fuel, the lubricant and the condition of the Ferrari engine.
Source: Shell Motorsport
